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CA - Sarah Cheiker, 89, Los Angeles, 2008

James Caccavo displays a photograph of himself and Sarah Cheiker, taken at an assisted living facility in Maine in 2012. Caccavo says Cheiker told him she never sold her old L.A. home, which was bulldozed after she was allegedly taken by a trio of people who sold the home and spent her money. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Elderly L.A. woman vanishes, is found alone in Maine four years later

Sarah Cheiker had lived in the small bungalow in the Fairfax district for decades, first with her mom and then by herself. But one day in 2008 she vanished, and a bulldozer showed up to demolish her longtime home. "I was shocked. We figured she was dead," said Jim Caccavo, who had been Cheiker's next-door neighbor for 35 years. When he couldn't find out what had become of the 89-year-old woman, he filed a missing person's report. Four years later, two FBI agents rolled into the neighborhood and starting knocking on doors, asking questions and telling residents that Cheiker had been found alive — abandoned and alone in a weathered cabin near the coast of Maine. Someone had moved Cheiker into the cabin and left her there. Alerted by neighbors, authorities in tiny Lincoln County said they found her living in squalor.

"It was a place I wouldn't have let my dog live in," said Lincoln County Sheriff's Det. Robert McFetridge. The cabin's lone light bulb had burned out, leaving the woman in darkness. What food there was had spoiled. And though the summer weather in coastal Maine is typically mild, the day she was discovered, the temperature had climbed into the 100s, McFetridge said. As authorities began looking into how an elderly woman from L.A. could end up alone in remote Maine, they said they became aware of a trio of people — 41-year-old twins and their 21-year-old godson — who allegedly befriended Cheiker when she still lived in her Edinburgh Avenue bungalow. Neighbors said the brother and sister and their godson took Cheiker shopping and to doctor's appointments, and let her move in with them when the woman's bungalow was damaged in a fire. The following year, according to public records, the Sarah Cheiker Living Trust sold the damaged house for $712,000 to a developer, who promptly tore the place down to make way for a new, larger home.

For decades, Sarah Cheiker lived on Edinburgh Avenue in Los Angeles' Fairfax district. After she disappeared in 2008, her bungalow was sold, razed and replaced by a larger house. A neighbor says Cheiker, now in her 90s, who reappeared in Maine, contends she never sold the house. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

"When from a long distant past nothing persists, after the people are dead, after things are broken and scattered, still alone, more persistent, more faithful, the smell and taste of things remain poised a long, long time like souls, ready to remind us, waiting, hoping for their moment amid the ruins of all the rest, and bear unfaltering in the tiny and almost impalpable drop of their essence the vast structure of recollection."

• Sarah Cheiker, 89, had lived in Fairfax, Los Angeles for at least 35 years
• She befriended Nicholas and Barbara Davis, 41, as well as their godson
• But all three vanished in 2008 and 'traveled the country with her money'
• Cheiker found in 2012 in cabin in Edgecomb, Maine - 3,200 miles away
• 3 'friends' charged with endangering welfare of a dependent person - ...but pleaded no contest in court so were never found guilty

Terrible story, and what a travesty they walked free after Sarah's years of suffering. The twins Nicholas and Barbara Davis received probation, along with their son Jonathan. They sold Sarah's house and ran off with the money and her. I suppose it's lucky nothing worse was done to her.

We 'embraced' the missing Bob Harrod case as requested but 6 years on, are still waiting for further guidance

This is horrible.. Glad that Sarah was ok because of her neighbor. But this makes me wonder of how many old people out there that are found and nobody knows who they are...THis happens so often and it's heartbreaking. Has anyone heard the whereabouts of Barbara Nicholas and their son? Iam sure there up to no good.. And sadly when I here of a missing old person I think of these guys..